Whilst our family travelled around various towns in South Australia, we were aware of the things that bind a community together. Forget tight knit. That’s an over-used phrase that journalists quote when describing the response to the latest disaster. Most communities DO work together, it’s how humans rose to the top of the food chain - by helping and supporting each other and working for the common good. For the most part that works well. If you have good leadership, it’s pretty damn good, but if your leadership is found lacking, cracks appear.
There are tell tale signs - losing institutions like schools and sporting clubs, loss of services like banks, hospitals, doctors, general stores, post offices - and libraries.
If you pass through any rural communities around any state or country in the world, you will see the same devastation, when any or all of these things happen. Learning how to cope when one of these things happens becomes par for the course, small changes, bigger changes, and the next thing you know, the population has halved and there are tumbleweeds in the main street, and no-one wants to buy your house when you can’t stay any longer.
All of these towns have one thing in common, there are amazing groups of people that spend countless years (yes years) on keeping the halls going, the sporting facilities, campaigning for the schools, the banks - giving money out of their own pockets, holding numerous fundraisers and applying for grants (and hasn’t THAT worked well over the last few years for sporting clubs?), and now we are campaigning for our Library.
This should be our line in the sand. This is Gandalf at the bridge saying to the Balrog “You shall not pass!” Enough.
There are some very good resources online regarding Libraries and their contribution to health and wellbeing, literacy, and providing safe places. A good Australian one is https://librarieschangelives.org.au . Set up by the Victorian Libraries, it contains research and evidence on why we should keep these amazing and vastly underrated places.
It’s not about the number of people who borrow books. It’s not about turnover. It’s about community. It’s about people having a safe and welcoming space when everything else seems so unwelcoming. No judgement. You can go into a Library and just BE.
It’s a place where our community can pick up information - there are council records there - apart from all of the usual Library paraphernalia, it’s a meeting place - for artists, for poets and writers. It’s place where children feel safe waiting for parents to pick them up after school. It’s a place where people connect - maybe for the only time that week - were they are greeted with a friendly smile and a helping hand.
So, even though it may have been a while since YOU dropped into the Library, there are others who cherish it, rely on it, DEPEND upon it. If you can’t send a message for yourself - send it for THEM.
Please check the recommendations from the Library Services Review below. Survey forms are available from the library and must be returned before the 10th March.
